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Scott Ogilvie

With his scruffy face, skinny ties and hoop earring, Scott Ogilvie of the 24th Ward does not look like your typical city alderman. Nor does he act like one. During committee hearings, when his colleagues' pet projects often get rubber-stamped, Ogilvie interjects and asks the big questions. A 31-year-old Minnesota native and Washington University grad, he famously rides his bike everywhere. This spring he pushed through an ordinance that now requires bike parking facilities on all new construction projects. Ogilvie, who was elected as an independent, is the only alderman to post online how much the city spends in his ward. When the news broke in August that state Rep. Rodney Hubbard Jr., son of the well-connected Hubbard clan, had received a ghost contract from the treasurer, most pols kept mum — except Ogilvie, who registered his disgust on Twitter. "When we reduce the Board of Aldermen from 28 to 14," he wrote, "there will be 14 fewer political families to take care of." That took some balls, given that Ogilvie must now work inside a city hall rife with familial loyalties and patronage hires. We salute his willingness to shake things up.